Photographic emulsions which contain predominantly tabular silver halide grains are well known in the prior art. These grains are known to provide several advantages over more conventional spherical grains. Tabular grains can generally be coated at a lower coating weight than conventional grains thereby providing a savings in the manufacturing cost of the film. However, since tabular grains have an inherently low sensitivity to actinic radiation there is a pressing need to provide spectral sensitizing dyes so that all of the advantages of tabular grains can be fully exploited. Spectral sensitizing dyes are well known in the art for green and red sensitization of tabular grains yet relatively few examples are provided for spectral sensitization of tabular grains in the ultraviolet and blue regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The use of photographic emulsions, as described above, with x-ray intensifying screens is well known in the art of medical imaging.
The x-ray intensifying screens typically comprise a phosphor as the active element for conversion of x-ray energy to lower energy visible or ultraviolet radiation.
Particularly efficient phosphors which may be used in the preparation of an X-ray intensifying screen are the tantalates described by Brixner in U.S. Pat. No. 4,225,623. These phosphors are based on yttrium, lutetium, and gadolinium tantalates of the M' monoclinic form and may be activated with rare earths such as terbium, thulium and niobium, for example, as well described in the aforementioned reference. Since these phosphors have a high X-ray stopping power, they are presently widely used for the preparation of these intensifying screens and the method for their preparation includes the mixing of ingredients followed by firing this mixture to form the phosphor crystal lattice itself.
Phosphor screen combinations have been widely utilized in the art. The majority of this use has been with green emitting screens and photographic emulsions which are sensitized to the green. Blue emitting screens used with silver halide element which are not spectrally sensitized are also known in the art. In the blue sensitive systems the practitioner is typically relying almost exclusively on the inherent sensitivity of the silver halide to blue and ultra-violet radiation. There has been a long felt need in the art for improved sensitization of silver halide elements in the blue and ultra-violet regions of the electromagnetic spectrum to increase the system speed of radiographic elements with blue and ultra-violet emitting radiographic screens and thereby take advantage of the inherent improved resolution of the shorter wavelength screens.